CAREER: Understanding regenerative signaling using planarian flatworms

非技术段落：本研究项目侧重于了解再生，即生物体在受伤后重新长出缺失部分的过程。浮游生物是淡水扁虫，几乎在受到任何伤害后，它们的所有身体部位都可以再生。由于其非凡的再生能力，浮游生物是研究再生如何成功发生的有用动物。这里提出的这项研究将揭示允许细胞在再生过程中相互交流的化学信号。实验还将测试特定类型的细胞，包括神经元和结缔组织细胞，促进脊椎动物再生的假设。更好地理解简单生物体中的再生，有朝一日可能会带来治疗人类损伤或涉及细胞损伤的疾病的新想法。最后，由于学生在其研究生涯的早期就可以获得爬行动物的再生，该奖项的教育部分将介绍一年级的本科生进行研究，并为当地的K-12教师提供机会来了解爬行动物，并将这些迷人的动物带入他们的课堂。技术段落：再生涉及受伤后组织的再生，通过一系列复杂和微调的分子和细胞事件。这一职业奖的研究部分调查了高度再生动物的细胞如何检测损伤并触发适当的再生反应。在这项提议中，扁虫--具有非凡再生能力的动物--被用作模型系统。虽然扁虫已经被建立为研究再生的有价值的模式系统，但启动和调节再生的信号的身份和来源(S)仍然不清楚。这一建议采取了多管齐下的方法，以发现调节再生的新信号机制，并识别作为关键的、被低估的再生信号源的组织。这个项目的研究目标是：(1)揭示神经系统在再生和干细胞生物学中的作用；(2)探索实质(脊椎动物的结缔组织)中的新细胞群，并检验这些细胞影响干细胞的假说；(3)通过表征脊椎动物的核激素受体补体，确定潜在的新的再生信号机制。这些努力与在大学生涯早期培训本科研究人员的努力和旨在向K-12学生介绍行星和再生的外展项目相结合。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Nontechnical paragraph:This research project focuses on understanding regeneration, the process by which organisms regrow missing parts after injury. Planarians, which are freshwater flatworms, can regenerate all of their body parts after nearly any injury. Because of their extraordinary regenerative ability, planarians serve as a useful animal for studying how successful regeneration occurs. The research proposed here will uncover chemical signals that allow cells to communicate with one another during regeneration. Experiments will also test the hypothesis that specific types of cells, including neurons and cells of the connective tissue, promote planarian regeneration. A better understanding of regeneration in simple organisms could one day lead to new ideas for treatment of human injuries or diseases that involve cell damage. Finally, because planarian regeneration is accessible to students early in their research careers, the education components of this award will introduce first-year undergraduate students to research and provide local K-12 teachers with opportunities to learn about planarians and to bring these fascinating animals into their classrooms.Technical paragraph:Regeneration involves the regrowth of tissue after injury through an intricate and finely tuned set of molecular and cellular events. The research component of this CAREER award investigates how cells in highly regenerative animals detect injury and trigger the appropriate regenerative response. In this proposal, planarian flatworms—animals with extraordinary regenerative capacity—are used as a model system. Though planarian flatworms have been established as a valuable model system for the study of regeneration, the identity and source(s) of signals that initiate and modulate regeneration remain unclear. This proposal takes a multi-pronged approach to discover novel signaling mechanisms that regulate regeneration and to identify tissues that serve as critical, underappreciated sources of regenerative signals. The research aims in this project are: (1) to uncover roles for the nervous system in regeneration and stem cell biology; (2) to explore a novel population of cells in the parenchyma (the connective tissue of the planarian) and test the hypothesis that these cells influence stem cells; and (3) to identify potentially novel regenerative signaling mechanisms by characterizing the nuclear hormone receptor complement of planarians. These efforts are integrated with efforts to train undergraduate researchers early in their college careers and outreach projects aimed at introducing K-12 students to planarians and regeneration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.